HIGHLIGHTS

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane could be offered a Rajya Sabha seat by the BJP. Photo: PTI

HIGHLIGHTS

Ex-Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane met BJP chief Amit Shah

Narayan Rane could be offered a Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra

Narayan Rane left Congress last year after 12 years in party

Some big news could soon be coming from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra after former chief minister Narayan Rane met BJP president Amit Shah in the presence of Devendra Fadnavis in Delhi yesterday night.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was in Delhi to attend the BJP-ruled state CMs' meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.

After the meeting at the BJP's new headquarters, Fadnavis and Amit Shah had a one-on-one meeting for half an hour, following which the two left for Amit Shah's residence at 11, Akbar Road where Narayan Rane, president of the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksh, was already waiting for them.

The meeting with Narayan Rane lasted for half an hour. Sources indicate that Rane, who left the Congress last year after a 12-year stint, is being offered a Rajya Sabha seat by the BJP from Maharashtra.

Elections to 58 Rajya Sabha seats are slated to take place on March 23. Six seats in Maharashtra will fall vacant, and the BJP is confident of securing three of them. According to sources, Narayan Rane is also being offered a ministerial berth in the Union Council of Ministers.

But Rane, it appears, is not very keen to leave Maharashtra and shift base to Delhi. There are camps, however, within the Maharashtra cabinet that would rather have Narayan Rane leave the state than join the state council of ministers.

Narayan Rane could be key to the BJP's plan to play check-mate with ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena has already announced it will be going solo in the Assembly and General Elections of 2019.

The BJP, which has been playing ball with the Shiv Sena's blow hot-blow cold strategy for a while, is keen to eke out majority numbers on its own in the upcoming polls and then dump the latter.

It remains to be seen how the BJP accommodates Narayan Rane and the significant clout he brings on board.

The final date for filing nominations for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls is March 12. The BJP's Central Election Committee will meet in Delhi on March 3 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to finalise the names for all the 58 seats, of which it is hopeful of bagging more than 30.